Electrician Jobs Quote for Solar PV upgrade: Solaredge + optimisers NE of Bristol

[AndyNEBristol]

Quote for Solar PV upgrade: Solaredge + optimisers NE of Bristol

After consideration of the pros and cons, I have decided to upgrade my current inverter to the Solaredge 3.6kW with x16 power optimisers.

Primarily it is because I like the idea of a 20 year warranty on the inverter (19 years left on my FiT) and especially as it will give me the ability to monitor my own system. I understand that generation may increase by 2 – 5%.

I am looking for a conscientious installer to carry out this work – access is good, the layout straightforward. Approx. 20 mins from either J14/M5 or J18/M4, NE of Bristol.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Will you be looking for the feed in tariff? If so i think you still need mcs certified installers.

 

[SpecialistEnergy]

I'll do it if you want - but that is an expensive upgrade and my preference is to leave well alone unless you have problem shading. I have seen 3 optimisers fail in recent months, and when that happens it means you lose output from the attached panel...

You can find me through my website by googling my company name and "Herefordshire" I imagine - not sure what the forum rules are on this!

 

[SpecialistEnergy]

Will you be looking for the feed in tariff? If so i think you still need mcs certified installers.

he says he is on the FiT already..

 

[SpecialistEnergy]

@AndyNEBristol if you want monitoring, you may well be able to add it to your existing system - either using the inverter manufacturers own equipment, or by adding a SolarLog (I have one in stock) or proprietary GSM network generation meter

 

[LeeH]

Have you tried to work out the payback time?

If the numbers don’t add up your investment just won’t make sense.

I went with the solar edge system due to shading and was strongly advised to. But if you don’t it’s a waste.

 

[AndyNEBristol]

Firstly, thank you to Specialist Energy, I will contact you on your website.

Working out the payback time is effected by a number of factors, some of them not economic.
As a person with limited knowledge of how a solar system will perform over the twenty-five year period of the FiT, I have to make assumptions and educated guesses. My assumptions are that my panels, in all probability, will perform as per their spec over twenty-five years (REC); that my inverter (PowerOne 3600) will need replacing at least once, maybe twice.
Allowing for replacing the inverter twice, gives figures of some £2000 plus if using an SMA inverter; or £1000 for something like a Solis.
This cost is weighed up against the installation of a SolarEdge inverter and power optimisers. When I have some concrete quotes for this, the economics will be clearer.
What I am drawn to regarding the SolarEdge setup is the twenty-year extended warranty on the inverter and the monitoring itself. The latter is especially attractive to me as I love analysing pertinent data, so would view the monitoring as something of a hobby. The former would cover the remaining nineteen years I have left on my FiT.

 

[LeeH]

The monitoring portal is very cool, showing each individual panel is very informative and interesting.

Is the warranty insurance backed?

 

[SpecialistEnergy]

@AndyNEBristol

my honest advice would be to go to SMA - their standard inverters have built in monitoring and all you need is either a network cable or wifi within range. If you really wanted module level monitoring SMA also do an optimiser which can do monitoring per module - but again it inv0lves scaffolding and complete removal of the panels. Their website says their optimisers have significantly less components then "their competitors" - obviously a reference to SolarEdge

You are right that your current inverter will probably not last the distance - but in the last 10 years I have worked for various companies and seen hundreds of SMA inverters and only ever needed to replace a very small handful due to actual faults.

I would expect 10 yrs plus for an SMA. I'm sure a Solar Edge inverter would last the same - as for the optimisers I'm not so sure. My supplier says they have very few returns - but like I said I have personally had to replace 3, 2 of them luckily on a ground mount system which never needed them anyway.